Looking at a 2015 GMC Sierra 2500HD SLT

etex211 · February 20

My wife works for a car dealer. They've got a truck on their lot that was traded in back in December. It is a 2015 GMC Sierra 2500HD SLT. This truck has 101,000 miles. It is a crew cab 4x4 with a 6.5 foot bed. Carfax shows that regular maintenance (oil changes) has been done on the truck since new. This truck has the 6.0 gas engine and six speed transmission. She wants to buy this truck. I am trying to decide if we should.

Our current situation is that we have a 2007 Chevy Silvarado Classic as my daily driver. It hit 150,000 miles last week. We bought this truck in February, 2011 when it had 48,000 miles. I've done all the work on this truck since then, and it is in good shape. It still drives good and looks good. I really don't put all that many miles on the truck. I drive a company car for my job.

We also have a 1996 Chevy crew cab dually with a vortec 454. We've owned this truck for 21 years. The only thing we use this truck for is pulling our camper, a 38 foot fifth wheel that weighs about 11,000 pounds dry. I've never weighed this camper with all of our "stuff" in it, but I'm guessing it's somewhere around 14,000 pounds. The pin weight is about 2500 pounds. The dually sits in our shop all of the time. I bring it out when we have camping trips. It generally sees about 1000-1500 miles per year. It has about 165,000 miles on the odometer. I've done quite a bit to this truck in the last 2-3 years including a new A/C compressor, new oil cooler hoses, new power steering hoses (all 5 of them), new Bilstein shocks, and the addition of a TCI aluminum transmission pan. This is still a pretty nice truck, but it is 25 years old.

If we buy the 2015 GMC, it will probably mean selling both of out existing trucks. I think the '07 will bring $10,000-$12,000, and I think the dually will bring $6,500-$8,500. These are just guesses on my part. I really haven't surveyed the market yet.

The dealership is asking about $32,000 for the 2015 GMC. I have no idea if this is a fair price or not. They can't put this truck on their floor plan, so I believe they are motivated to sell.

Here are the things I have to decide:

1. Do I really want to take on a car loan? Affording the truck isn't really an issue, but I hate car payments.

2. Do I really want to downsize from two trucks to one? It is always nice to have one to fall back on if the other is down for any reason.

3. I have to ask myself if I really want to give up the dually for pulling our camper. We don't take the camper far from home, Our jobs don't permit us to take a lot of vacation trips. We take the camper to Texas Motor Speedway 2-3 times per year. Other than that, we occasionally take the camper to casino campgrounds, or other area campgrounds. None of these places are more than a couple of hours away. Gaining the four wheel drive capability would be nice. I've had the dually stuck in that TMS campground several times over the years. That's no fun. I'm also trying to decide if swapping from an 8 foot bed to a 6.5 foot bed will be okay.

I've been looking at some torque and horsepower charts. I believe this 6.0 is very similar to the old Vortec 7.4 in the 3000-3500 RPM range, which is where I try to let my engines live when towing. I'm not going to turn the 5 grand it takes to get the peak numbers. I believe the six speed transmission would give the 6.0 some advantages over the 454 and it's four speed.

She's brought the truck home for the weekend. I'm going to get it in my shop in a little while and look everything over. I'd like to hook my camper to it and get it on the highway for a bit if I am able. However, I'll have to wait for all of the ice and snow from this week's winter storm to melt first. We are in northeast Texas. This week was unreal.

I'll gladly accept any input you have to offer. Before anybody tells me to buy a diesel, just understand that I have no interest in owning a diesel. I'll accept the limitations of the gas engine. Everything is a compromise.

etex211 · February 20

After taking a sort test drive in this truck, I am killing this deal, and the wife understands. Before spending this kind of money on a vehicle, it has to blow me away. This one didn't.

My two trucks that were paid for years ago will continue to do what i need them to do.

If you took the time to read this post, thank you. This thread can be closed.

i82much · February 20

i have a similar (2016) gasser 2500HD and love it. But you have a GMT 800 half ton truck and those are some of the best trucks GM has ever made. IMHO you made the right decision.

If the 2015 truck had 50k miles on it, would have been a much closer call.

dplarson · February 21

I’d have a terrible time getting rid of the 07 Classic.

I have a 2017 gas 6.0 2500HD work truck I paid the asking price you’re talking about but that was almost 2 years ago. Seems overpriced unless fully loaded and perfect with that age and mileage.

I think they’re rated to tow around 13000.

You probably made the right choice.

Sent from the demons in my head

etex211 · February 27

The dealership is in this truck way too deeper than they should be, and they are looking for a way out. Somebody padded their pockets by allowing way too much on the trade. They can't put it on their floor plan, so they are stuck. After thinking about all of it, it really kind of pisses me off that they tried to pawn this thing off on my wife. It's not surprising She is just there for the paycheck. My wife has been in car business most of her life. She was born into the car business. Her daddy was a used car dealer. Unfortunately, he died in 1986. She got back into the business in 1994, and has worked at dealerships ever since. As recently as a couple of years ago, she was the controller for three dealerships. The money was good, but the job was impossible. New car dealerships have changed. They're nothing like they used to be. They were once like families, but no more. The new breed of dealer couldn't care less about employees. Of course, there are exceptions, but things just aren't like they used to be. My wife is doing a job now way beneath her knowledge and skill level, but she has her nights, weekends, and sanity back. She can even take a day or two off from time to time, if she likes. Some things are more important than money.

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My '07 Classic has been and still is a great truck. I've had to do virtually nothing to it in the 11 years I've owned it. I expect at least another 10 years of great service from this truck.

Our '96 dually is like a part of the family. When it comes down to it, I'm not sure we could ever part with it.

These two trucks don't have all the bells and whistles of new trucks, but I can live with that.

I like everything I've read about the new 6.6 gas engine they're using in some of the one ton trucks. Maybe a few years down the road when the used ones come down in price, I'll take a look.

Thanks to the posters above for your input. I feel great about walking away from this deal.